Elevator apparatus



May 7, 1935. w. L. LADMANN 2,000,704

ELEVATOR APPARATUS May 7, 1935. w. LfLADEMANN ELEVATOR APPARATUS FiledFeb. 19, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 zaA/f L Elfi/4727,? C14/PE L .STEP Mara@INVENTOR Patented May 7, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELEVATORAPPARATUS 9 Claims.

of wiring and other expense.

The many novel features, combinations and relations of parts comprisingthe invention and by which the foregoing and other desirable objects areattained, will be understood from the following specification.

The drawings accompanying and forming part of the specificationillustrate certain practical embodiments of the invention but it will beapparent that the structure may be modified and changed as regards thepresent illustrations without departure from the true spirit and broadscope of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a view of two of the step motor door machines and the floorselector which is usually .located at the head of the elevator shaft anddriven by mechanical means in time with the travel of the elevator, thevarious electrical connections being indicated diagrammatically andportions of the step motors being broken and appearing in section;` Fig.2 is a front detail of one 0f thefloor indicators; Fig. 3 is adiagrammatic illustration of the zone and floor annunciator system,showing connections from the floor buttons at two of the iioors; Fig. 4is a broken sectional detail illustrating the contact mechanism operatedby the selector step motor; Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustratingthe elevator control connections and position indicator; Fig. 6 is abroken and partly diagrammaticview of a modified form of step motorcontrol switch mechanism.

Referring to the first sheet of drawings for an understanding of theelectric step motor, it will be seen that the same consists of twosolenoids or magnets 1, 8, designed to operate cores or armatures 9, I0on the vertically sliding rods II, I2, guided in suitable brackets orbearings I3 and operating rockers I4, I5, carrying pawls I6, I1,selectively engaging the reversely faced ratchets I8, I9, fast on theshaft 20. The rock levers I4, I5 are pivotally supported intermediatetheir ends as indicated at 2|, are yslidingly connected at their outerends with the solenoid rods at 22 and have the pawls I6, I1 pivotallymounted on their inner ends at 23, said pawls being thrust inwardly ortoward the ratchets by the springs 24, stops 25 on the levers limitingthe extent of their inward movement.

In the positions of rest, the ratchets and hence the shaft 20 areretained against accidental or unintended movement by spring detents 26,21 on the inner ends of the rocking levers 28', 29 which are connectedat their outer ends at 30 with the lower ends of the solenoid rods, therelation being such that the detent which is connected with the inactivemagnet serves as a slip detent for the ratchet which is being turned bythe active magnet. Thus in the illustration, the detent 26 connectedwith the left hand magnet engages the ratchet I9 which is being turnedby the active or energized right hand magnet. With both magnetsde-energized both detents 26, 21 engage the ratchets I9,` I8 thusretaining the shaft against turning in either direction. When one magnetis energized, however, the detent which otherwise would hold the shaftagainst turning in the direction effected by that magnet is releasedfrom its holding position and only the detent which serves as a slipdetent for rotation in that direction is left in engagement.

In Figs. l and 2 the step motors are shown as employed for operating theelevator signals at the different floors of a building. In such case, astep motor is located at each floor and connected to operate the signaldevice at that floor. Thus as shown, the shaft 20 is connected by apulley and belt 3|, 32 or other drive connection with the indicatingmachine, shown as consisting of the two pulleys 33, 34 on the shafts 35,36

carrying floor indicating tape 31 which is visible through a window oropening 38 in the casing 39 of. the machine, the lamp 40 furnishing theillumination for this indicating portion of the tape. The two shafts ofthe indicating machine are shown as driven in unison by a beltconnection 4I and the upper shaft 35 is shown as carrying a pulley 42engaged by the belt connection from the step motor.

Thus it will be understood that the floor machines are driven step bystep from the motors, to indicate upward or downward travel of theelevator car in accordance with the energization of either the downmagnets 1 or the up magnets 8.

The step by step action of the floor signal motors is governed by asuitable contact machine such as the selector shown in Fig. l asconsisting of a traveller 43 actuated by the screw 44 driven by gearing45, or otherwise in accordance with the travel of the elevator car andcarrying contact pawls 46, 41 cooperating with contacts 48, 49 in thedownward and upward travel respectively of the car. y

The down set of contacts 48 are shown as connected bysuitable wiring 50with the down set of magnets 1 and the up set of contacts are shown asconnected by wiring 5l with the up magnets 8. The selector machine isshown as connected to the negative side of the line by wiring 52 and themagnets are returned to the positive side of the line by the wiring 53,the up magnets being connected in a series and similarly the downmagnets being in a series relation so that all magnets of one set willbe operated simultaneously under control of the selector.

The selector is constructed so that in the travel in one direction onlyone set oi contacts will be operative and correspondingly in the travelof the other direction only the other set will be operative. ln theillustration this is accomplished by the provision o1c insulation on thebacks of the contacts l which as appears at the top causes the contacts,because oi their spring pivot mounting to yield and then snap by withoutmaking eiectrical contact in the Inove- Inent o the traveller in onedirection.

rlhe direction of travel is indicated at the iioor machines by the upand down signal lamps 56, 51 which are controlled in the illustration bya rocker 58 on the step motor and actuated by lugs 59, 69 on thesolenoid rods to close the down and up signal circuit contacts Si,respectively, the latter being connected by wiring with the down andsignal lamps 51, 5G, the latter being connected by the wiring and in thetwo sides of the line.

While the up and down signal rocker is indicated as mounted on orconcentric with the shaft 28, it will be clear that it may be supportedin any suitable way for rocking movement under the action of the up anddown magnet-s respectively and it will be understood that it remains inthe position to which it is shifted, by riction, spring detent or thelike until it is positively shifted in the opposite direction byoperation of the other magnets.

After the selector completes each contact, the set of magnets which havejust been energized all release their armatures, by gravity, or aided byspring, if that is considered desirable, the weight of the parts,however, usually insuring that the armatures will positively drop andthe pawls be released from the ratchets immediately after the circuit isbroken at the selector.

Figs. 3 and It illustrate the employment of the step motor for operationof the zone and iioor annunciator system. In these views, the step motoris indicated generally at B, the shaft 20 of the same being shown ascarrying an arm 61 of insulating material having through contacts GS toform connection between the two sets of contact rings 58, i9, at theiront and the two sets of zone contacts, 1i 12, at the back.

The inner set of down contact rings 65, are shown connected by wiring i3with the set of down annunciator signal lights 1-3 in the elevator carand similarly the outer up set of contact rings 18 are shown connectedby wiring 15 with the up set or annunciator signals 16.

The inner set of down zone contacts 1I are indicated as connected bywiring 11 with the contacts 18 of the down relays 18 and the up set ofzone contacts 'i2 are shown as connected by the wiring with the contacts8l of the up control relays 82.

The down and the up push buttons 83, 84, are connected by wiring 85, 86,respectively with the relays 81, 88 controlling contacts 89, 90. Thedown relays 19, 81, and the up relays 82, 88 are self-holding magnets sothat when energized by operation of the oor push buttons they will holdtheir contacts closed until automatically reset by the door selectormechanism forming part of the usual automatic elevator control and notherein shown.

In the present illustration, if the up button 84 on the ninth door bepressed, a circuit will be closed by wiring 86 through the up controlrelay 88 which will hold its contacts 9D closed until after the car hasgone past the ninth floor on its up trip. When contacts 90 are closed inthis illustration, a circuit will be completed by wiring 9i through theNo. l zone signal lamp 92 and through the common feeder system 93 to thepositive side of the line, the negative side of the line being connectedto the other side of the relay switch at 94. A second sct of contacts 95closed by the relay 88 simultaneously with closure of contacts Si) sendscurrent into wiring 80 of the No. 1 set of up zone contacts 12 andthrough contact segments S8 in the carrier segment 61 to the No. 9contact ring 1B and thence by wiring 15 to the No. 9 up signal lamp 16on the annunciator these also being all connected to the common feeder93. Hence if the car is in the first zone going up, both the No. l zonesignal and the No. 9 floor signal will show up on the annuciatorindicating to the operator of the car a stop on the ninth oor on the uptrip. As a further example, if the up button were pushed on the 19thdoor, the second zone signal 92 would show up at once indicating to theoperator a stop in the second zone and as the car passes up into thesecond zone the No. 9 floor signal would come on to show the operator astop was to be 5 made on the ninth floor in the second zone, or in otherwords, the 19th floor of the building and similarly for the third zonefloor signals or for any additional zone signals.

The action is reversed for the down travel of the car, the zone signalsindicating to the operator stops to be made in the lower zones and thedoor signals for such zones coming on as the car passes into such zoneson its downward travel. Thus by way of example, if the down button B3were operated at the 9th floor, the energization of down relay 81 wouldclose one set of contacts 89 to energize the No. l zone signal and a.second set of contacts 95 to send current by wiring 11 to the No. 9terminal of the down zone contacts 1l and thence to the No. 9 down ringcontact 69 and by wiring 13 to the No. 9 down annunciator signal 14.Similar operations may be traced for the 10th oor in the illustrationand it will be understood that the connections may be multiplied for anynumber of iioors. It will be seen furthermore that the zoning systemeliminates considerable wiring, it requiring in the illustration onlyten wires for up signals, ten wires for down signals, one wire for eachzone and a common feeder, making in this present case only 24 wires tothe elevator oar for a building of 30 stories.

The step motor 5B for the zone and floor annuciator signals may belocated in the motor room, along with the control relays and relatedparts and is controlled by the floor selector switch mechanism shown atthe foot of Fig. 1, which latter preferably also is located in the motorroom at the head of the elevator shaft and connected with the up anddown and feed circuit wires 91, 98, 99, as will be clear in Figs. 1, 3and 4. In these views the conditions are illustrated as with theelevator car on its upward travel in the first zone and the selector ashaving made engagement with the No. 9 contact inthe up series ofcontacts l! in the first zone of travel.

In Fig. 5, the control of the elevator is illustrated as effectedthrough the medium of the step motors, one of these motors being locatedin the motor room as indicated at and another, in step with the first,indicated at |0| on the elevator car. The step motor |00 in the motorroom may in fact be built as a part of the zone and oor annunciator stepmoto:` 66, Figs. 3 and 4, that is, one step motor be provided foroperating both the zone annunciator switch contacts and the switchcontacts for controlling the action of the car, which "in this case is aso-called signal-controlled car, automatically stopping on signals fromthe floors or from presetting of floor buttons in the car. Thus in Fig.5, there are indicated a series of automatic buttons I 02, in the caradapted to be pressed by the operator of the car as the passengersannounce the iloors at which they wish to stop, it being understood thata stop button is provided for each floor of the building.

These buttons are shown connected by Wiring |03 with contact segments|04 designed to be engaged by a Contact carried by an arm |06 on theshaft 20 of step motor |0|. This contact |05 on the rotating switch armreceives current from a contact ring |01 connected by wiring |08 withcontact ring |09 engaged by contact ||0 of switch arm carried by shaft20 of the control room step motor |00. This switch arm contact I0 at theopposite side engages contacts I2 suitably connected by wiring ||3 withthe elevator control relays, not shown. Consequently, the closing of thecircuit at one of the push buttons in the car automatically effects thestopping of the car when it reaches the oor corresponding to the pushbutton which has been actuated.

The position indicator signals in the` car are shown at H4 and these arecontrolled automatically in Fig. 5 by an extra contact ||5 on the stepmotor switch arm |06 taking current from a Contact ring IIB and engagingone after another the contact segments I1 connected respectively withthe different floor indicators.

While the construction disclosed in Fig. 4, with the switch armoperating between contact rings on one side and switch contacts at theopposite side after the manner shown in Fig. 4, is satisfactory, all thecontacts may be located at one side of the switch arm as in Fig. 6 wheresaid switch arm is shown as carrying elongated switch contacts |05 andI5' adapted to bridge between contact rings |01 and segments |04 andbetween contact ring H6 and segment H1', respectively.

The use of the step motors materially reduces the necessary amount ofwiring in the shaft. It will be seen that for the signal-controloperation of the car it is only necessary to carry four wires from thecontrol room to the car, this being so because the wiring from thediierent floor buttons can all be concentrated in the car as shown inFig. 5, with only the leads from the step motor in the car to the stepmotor in the control room. The step motors are positioned in action sothat once set they will remain in proper step. For the initial setting,they may be individually adjusted by hand and if desired, specialsynchronizing mechanism may be provided to maintain them in exactlytimed relation. These step motors are of simple, sturdy design andrelatively inexpensive in construction, and have no parts complicated orfragile which are liable to wear or get out of order. The step motors,furthermore, are adapted to other uses than those shown.

By way of example, instead of the selector switch in the shaft way,illustrated at the bottom of Fig. 1, a step motor may be substituted,operated step by step in one direction by contact switches operated bythe car in one direction of travel and rotated in the reverse directionby contact means actuated by the car in its reverse direction of travel.

What is claimed is:

1. In elevator control, the combination of elevator car, floor selectingdevices in the car, step by step oor `switch mechanism in the car andconnected with said floor selecting devices, means for operating saidstep by step switch mechanism in timed relation with the travel of thecar and position indicator signals in the car and controlled by saidsame step by step switch mechanism on the car.

2. In an elevator system, a step motor, zone and floor indicating carsignals for indicating respectively any one of a number of diierent oorgroups and individual oors in each of such groups and control switchmechanism for said zone and floor signals actuated by said step motor toindicate the zone or group in which a call originates and the floor inthat group from which such call came.

3. In an elevator system, a step motor, zone and floor indicating carsignals for indicating respectively any one of a number of differentfloor groups and individual iioors in each of such groups and controlswitch mechanism for said zone and floor signals actuated by said stepmotor to indicate the zone or group in which a call n originates and theiioor in that group from which such call came and floor signalingdevices connected with said zone and floor signal switch mechanism.

4. In elevator systems, switch mechanism actuated by travel of the carin opposite directions, step motors at diierent floors and connected tobe actuated by said switch mechanism in step with the car travel inopposite directions and car position indicator means actuated by saidiioor step motors, a motor room step motor connected to be actuated intimed relation with the floor step motors and car carried signalsactuated by said motor room step motor.

5. In elevator systems, switch mechanism actuated by travel of the carin opposite directions, step motors at different floors and connected tobe actuated by said switch mechanism in step with the car travel inopposite directions, car position indicator means actuated by said oorstep motors, a motor room step motor connected to be actuated in timedrelation with the floor step motors, car carried signals actuated bysaid motor room step motor and signal-stop control mechanism undercontrol of said motor room step motor.

6. In elevator systems, switch mechanism actuated by travel of the carin opposite directions, step motors at different floors and connected tobe actuated by said switch mechanism in step with the car travel inopposite directions and car position indicator means actuated by saidfloor step motors, a motor room step motor connected to be actuated intimed relation with the iloor step motors, car carried signals actuatedby said motor room step motor and car carried preset stop meansconnected to operate in conjunction with said motor room step motor.

7. In elevator systems, switch mechanism actuated by travel of the carin opposite directions, step motors at different floors and connected tobe actuated by said switch mechanism in step with the car travel inopposite directions and car position indicator means actuated by saidfloor step motors, a motor room step motor connected to be actuated intimed relation with the floor step motors, car carried signals actuatedby said motor room step motor, car carried preset stop means connectedto operate in conjunction with said motor room step motor and includingstep motor actuated switch means operating in synchronism with the motorroom step motor.

8. In elevator systems, switch mechanism actuated by travel of the carin opposite directions, step motors at different floors and connected tobe actuated by said switch mechanism in step with the car travel inopposite directions, car position indicator means actuated by said doorstep motors, a motor room step motor connected to be actuated in timedrelation with the oor step motors, car carried signals actuated by saidmotor room step motor, signalstop control mechanism under control ofsaid motor room step motor and preset car carried control meansconnected to be operated in synchronism with the motor room step motor.

9. In elevator control, the combination o1' an elevator car, floorselecting devices in the car, step-by-step oor switch mechanism in thecar and connected with said floor selecting devices, means for operatingsaid step-by-step switch mechanism in timed relation with the travel ofthe car, position indicator signals in the car and controlled by saidsame step-by-step floor switch mechanism in the car, switch mechanismactuated by travel of the car in opposite directions, step motors atdifferent floors and connected to be actuated by said switch mechanismin step with the car travel in opposite directions, car positionedindicator means actuated by said oor step motors, control means forstopping the elevator, including a step motor connected to be actuatedin timed relation with the oor step motors.

WILLIAM L. LADEMANN.

